A Direct Method for Enforcing Equality Constraints in Optimal Output Feedback

This paper presents an algorithm that can be used to calculate optimal output feedback gains subject to a linear constraint on the gain matrix. This method is direct in that it does not rely on a penalty function approach. The algorithm is proven to converge to a local minimum. As an application, the lateral dynamics of an L-1011 aircraft are considered both for static gain output feedback and dynamic compensator design.